Hundertwasser shoes makeover

This is a short story about the shoes. It started with the wedding...

Way back, in the beginning of march, we went to one of those epic Indian weddings - several days, functions, venues and, of course, outfits. It was a bit of a challenge, seeing as most of our "wedding clothes" were still in the storage, but we did pull it off, somehow! I even had my ah-mazing red dress moment, which I took no pictures of - no idea why.

Anyway, we had it under control, with one exception: I had no shoes for one of the dresses. With no time for proper shoe shopping, i just ran to the nearest H&M and bought one pair of their trusty ballet flats in a lovely salmon color. Only, after the night of dancing on the lawn, they were everything but salmon. I cleaned them up the best I could, but they still had weird black stains all over.

Throwing our perfectly good shoes after wearing them once is, to me, all sorts of wrong, even if they did cost close to nothing. I packed them up, brought them home and they were waiting for better days ever since.
And it seems like their time has come!

I think I mentioned my fascination with decoupage. Well... I always wanted to do some shoe makeover but never had a proper victim to run my experiments on. And there they were - two lovely salmon victims, ready to be remade! Even more, I just found a tissue with Hundertwasser print - the only one in the shop-  almost screaming : use me! use me!

I always thought that Hundertwasser's works were so perfectly decorative, almost like patterns, not paintings and so much fun! Now, who wouldn't want shoes like that?!
But to the point... All it took was one printed tissue and some decoupage glue/seal. In all honesty, I could probably do a better job if I wasn't in such a hurry. There are some wrinkles here and there but I doubt anyone will examine my shoes with a magnifier so it's good enough for me. Actually, I kind of love them!

As far as I know, there are many ways to decoupage shoes, can't really say which one is best, since it was my first try. I know that there are a lot of how to's all over the internet, but in the end, it's rather intuitive, isn't it?
I started by cutting the tissue roughly to the shape I needed. I would recommend leaving a good margin around in case of mistakes or adjustments.
I worked with the front and back of the shoes separately cause smaller pieces of tissue are easier to manage. To keep the tissue from moving in an unexpected way, I glued the center front (and center back) first and worked towards the sides. It makes it easier to smooth out the wrinkles and avoid trapping in the air  - if you work slowly and patiently, not like me!

I glued my tissue in intervals, allowing every section to dry before starting another. It is also important to allow every layer to dry before applying the next.
the thing I enjoyed the most: you don't have to be very exact about the edges. You can tear the off and let its merge with the shoe "organically" or file the excess of tissue once it's dry.

I'm still waiting for the perfect weather to test run them outside the house. I didn't get the waterproof seal and it's been rather rainy lately. I wouldn't want all my enthusiastic work to just wash away...

fail-safe banana bread (guaranteed!)

Some time ago I was raving about chocolate banana bread. Well... Somehow, from the chocolate one I worked my way down to the plain old banana bread which I now love passionately! It's the easiest loaf cake in the world, and, what's more, it's absolutely impossible to screw up!

And here is the proof: I baked it changing proportions nearly every time according to what I had (or didn't have) in the fridge - it baked perfectly. Once or twice we had power break (aka the blackout - very common in India) mid-baking - it turned out perfectly. I made a cake mix out of it - it turned out perfectly (or so my husband who never baked a cake before tells me). I overloaded it with nuts and chocolate chips - it turned out perfectly.

It's moist, fluffy, cakey but also full of bananas so you can pretend it's healthy; you can make it with a fork and it takes about 5 minutes to whip up (plus the baking of course).

So here it is, the magic recipe!


4 big bananas - mashed with fork (best if they are overripe but not necessary)
50-100 g butter
1/4-1/2 cup sugar (i say the less the better, bananas will make it sweet - trust me)
1 egg
vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
pinch or two of salt
1,5 cup flour
nuts, chocolate chips, cranberries or whatever your heart desires!

Warm the oven to 180 degrees. Melt the butter. Mix in sugar (you can use a fork for the entire process) and add to the bananas. Mix in the egg and vanilla extract. If you are feeling ambitious you can combine dry ingredients before adding them to banana mixture, if not - just dump everything in and mix until combined. Lastly, mix in the nuts and raising if you are adding them. Pop in the hot oven for about 40-55 minutes.

Lavender pouches

It's been a while since my last summer in Poland and I'm delighted with all the familiar places, flavours, fragrances... It's so comforting and oddly exciting to revisit summer-type activities! But, at the same time, I'm really happy with the changes.

For example, lavender became an extremely common flower. You can find everywhere: gardens, parks, sidewalks, balconies and farmers markets. I even found a couple of lavender plantations and they are definitely going on my "to visit" list! I probably haven't mentioned it enough, but I adore lavender! The look, the smell, and versatility.

I always like to tuck some lavender pouches in between my clothes or bedsheets - apart from the fragrance, it eases the headaches, relaxes, wards of the moths and helps with insomnia. I usually pick some up, when I see them in the shop or market, but isn't it just great to make one yourself? Plus, more often than not, I have to make do with lavender essential oil or even lavender spray.

Well, I wasn't about to let the opportunity pass, especially that it's like a 10 minutes DIY, 5 - if you already have a pouch!

And let me tell you, no matter how great lavender sachets you have, it's nothing compared to the smell of freshly dried flowers!